The Path of the Shinobi
by Concker5000
Summary: AU. the story follows the adventures of team 7,, the road the ninja take to accomplish their dreams, and their struggle with one another; there are things that belong to the canon universe, however the few changes might be dramatically great, new techniques, some changes in some character's personality. pairs: sasusaku, naruhina, shikatema, nejiten, hanaXOC, etc. just give it a try


The Path of the Shinobi

Chapter 1 : Birth

It was a night like any other for the village hidden in the leafs, warm, peaceful and welcoming, giving the feeling of security that the people of said village were already used to. As the wind blew by there were people all over walking by or spending time with their families and friends, enjoying the pleasure the busy streets of the village gave, from stands with games that seemed to be easy where in fact caused a lot more problems the unfortunate Romeos who were trying so desperately to impress their dates, to expensive restaurants the families were so comfortable with, to the large and beautiful plain fields where the children loved to play. It was a moment of joy and love, everything seemed to be in the right place.

But sometimes not everything is what it seems to be

As the night progressed and the lights were slowly dying out, the number of people walking around the village was slowly decreasing announcing that they were going back home to finish their night to awake once more in their peaceful village where they knew they were safer and happier than in any other place in the whole world. It was then that an uneasy feeling started rising; that sense of security that embraced the entire village was lift up as if magically a god had taken it out, a god or perhaps a devil. The warmth that surrounded the village disappeared as well leaving place to an absolute cold, getting colder and colder by the second, an event that the villagers discarded as a simple weather change, however there were not only common people in this village for this was a land of Shinobi: a highly trained warrior whose sole purpose is to protect those they care about and the place where their loyalty lies, their one and only place they can call home, the village they reside in. No, they were not fooled by the curtain of the night, they knew something was wrong the minute they started feeling like that, soon enough the hidden leaf shinobi were on their guards, with sharp senses and powerful ninja tools they observed and they waited, only a few of the ninja were not aware of this, only because they were not trained enough yet to understand such situation. The waiting was getting frustrating, and the uneasy feeling did not disappear, the tension could have been literally cut with a butter knife, new factors presented themselves in the mixture; fear, anxiousness, confusion, yet the shinobi of the leaf remained as calm as possible for they all remembered that fighting a battle anxious meant sure death.

For an instant time seemed to stop, the wind in the faces of the shinobi was not anymore, for an instant the entire place was consumed by emptiness, they couldn't breathe, they couldn't speak, they couldn't think, all they could do was being, the most horrifying experience of them all was not that filled with pain and solitude, no, it was that filled with emptiness, nothingness, that where they lost their humanity, that when they were alive but dead nonetheless.

That instant in hell was over.

Suddenly a massive screen of smoke appeared out of nowhere right in the center of the village, destroying everything instantly; it however did not stop with that. Seconds after the smoke screen appeared a giant monster emerged from within, it was as if the devil himself had come before the village, it was a beast in the form of a fox, with red orange fur that in the darkness of the sky seemed to be covered in blood, with red crimson eyes that filled the lives of everyone it looked with terror, a terror they hadn't ever feel. Some of them fainted while some didn't even have the chance since they were utterly destroyed by the claws of the demon, it had nine tails that were the ones that named him, and a grim smile that would turn to roar every time that the fox was about to attack, the roar never once encountered by these people completely destroyed their psyche.

People were running away while children were crying in their mother's arms, it was the worst nightmare ever imagined, that which would haunt them for live.

**A few hours before….**

"waaaahhh….waaaahhh"- a children cried

"ah..hah…ah"- a woman with crimson hair was sighing

"he's finally here"- a man with blonde hair and blue eyes said –"I'm finally a father" 'Naruto"

"He's a healthy baby"- continued the woman with white robes

"Naruto….we finally meet" -the woman with crimson hair spoke

"kushina, how are you feeling?"- the man with blonde hair asked

"fine"-she responded

"thank you so much"-the blonde continued while crying

"Minato"- she replied with a smile

"alright, it's time to continue with the sealing-"- Minato continued but was cut off by a scream that came nearby.

It came from the woman in white robes and her assistant, who were lying in the floor dead, and a man with a mask was holding Naruto with one arm and with a kunai knife in is other hand.

"Fourth Hokage Minato, get away from the container of the beast"-said man ordered

At that moment kushina turned her sight with wide eyes at what was happening, she knew all too well there was a possibility of someone coming for the demon inside her while she gave birth to her baby, the socked expression however did not leave her face.

"or do you want to see your son die?"- the man continued

"_how did he get past the barrier"- thought Minato while glaring at the man-"who the hell is this guy",_

The seal of the demon started fading once again hurting kushina in the process and making her squirt in pain

"Kushina!" Minato exclaimed

"get away from the container fourth Hokage, or don't you care if your son dies?"-the man said

"Wait, stay calm"- Minato replied

"I should be saying that, I am really calm"- the man said while throwing Naruto upwards ready to thrust his kunai in the Hokage's son back

"Naruto!"- kushina yelled

The man with the mask jumped towards the baby kunai in hand ready to kill him, however was stopped by a yellow blur that caught the baby in time, the man looked in front only to see Minato holding his baby in his arms standing in the floor of the wall.

"as expected of the yellow flash of the village hidden in the leafs; however"- the man said while making a hand sign.

Just then the blanket that was surrounding the baby started to shine before it exploded.

"Minato!'-kushina yelled

The man, aware that the yellow flash had escaped safely wasted no time and went for kushina.

In another place around the village there was an explosion, followed by the yellow flash with his baby in arms.

Naruto was once again crying.

"thank god you're not hurt, Naruto"- said Minato while hugging his baby, he however had been hurt in the leg, while not deep wound it would still be bothersome in the fight.

"_his real objective is kushina, I have to stop him:"- thought Minato while standing _

In another blur he was gone, only to reappear in his house.

Black markings were coming out of Kushina's body, making her squirt in pain.

"what do you want"- said kushina to the man standing in front of her

"I want the nine-tailed fox, and to destroy the village hidden in the leafs"- the masked man stated

"What did you say?"- said kushina with wide eyes

The man with the mask was performing a technique to acquire the demon fox, with kushina tied by the black markings to nearby rocks and with little strength left she was helpless, but deep down she knew her husband would saver her and the village at any costs.

"hahahaha"- the man started laughing, a grim dark laugh that made her shiver, this guy was not someone to mess with

There stood Minato putting his baby to bed

"I must go save your mother"- he said with a serious face, only for him to disappear

The demon was looking the man in the eye with an angry expression in his face. He was chained with the chakra of Kushina and sealed within her

"you are…"- said the demon who was cut off by the man who used a genjutsu in him with his sharingan, his eyes became that of the man's with three tomoe around the pupil

Suddenly the chains surrounding the demon started melting and the demon started breaking free.

Kushina now covered by the demon chakra was now paralyzed

"Now then"- said the man-"come, nine-tailed fox!"- his sharingan blazing

A wave of energy got out of kushina materializing into the demon fox

The fox was roaring over and over until it completed its transformation

Kushina then fell to the ground.

"Good, now to destroy the village"- the man in the mask said

"wait"- said Kushina

"The clan Uzumaki, sure is incredible"- the man said without facing her-" you didn't die after I extracted the nine-tails" "you really are the container of the nine- tails"

The fox grunting approached Kushina

"I'll use him to kill you"-said the man

The nine-tails prepared to attack

With a roar it crushed the area where Kushina was lying in.

Up high in the peak of a tree appeared Minato with Kushina in his arms

"I must say as fast as your nickname gives you credit" "but you're too late"

"Minato, is…is Naruto safe ?" - said Kushina shaking

"yes he's fine, he's in a safe place right now" – replied with a smile on his face

"thank god" – said Kushina – " Minato, you must stop him, he is going to the village" she finished

Minato then glared the man, only to disappear in a blur.

"he disappeared again, huh? Well it doesn't matter the leaf is waiting for us" – finished the man

In a puff of smoke appeared Minato with his wife In his hands, he continued to put her in the same bed Naruto was, she was weak and tired, the look in her eyes contained the sadness of the recent events but she couldn't help but smile at the image of her newborn baby, with a tear in her eye she hugged Naruto not wanting to leave him.

Minato watching this scene couldn't help but feel furious, someone had interrupted the birth of his baby, attempted against his and his wife's lives, and dared to destroy his village, he had never seen Kushina so weak, so fragile, she was sun that illuminated his heart but her light was now fading. Rage started streaming, he was angry, at the man for those things he did and with himself for being so weak as not being able to protect the two people he cares the most in his life, he was angry and someone was going to pay. Tightening his grip, he put up his Hokage robe, and disappeared in a blur.

**Right now in present time….**

The beast was destroying everything in its path, screams of horror and pain could be heard everywhere, dozens by dozens the beast was killing civilians and shinobi alike, destroying buildings and trees, it was mayhem, chaos, it was **Hell**.

"lord Third Hokage, the nine-tails appeared in the village and is causing wreckage all over" – an anbu spoke

"I know, I'm going to seal it" – the Third Hokage Sarutobi said – "you protect the villagers"

"yes, sir " – finished the anbu before he disappeared in a puff of smoke

"did Kushina's seal break, even after all the precautions we took?" – asked the frustrated Hokage.

Several ninja gathered around the monster to protect the other villagers who somehow managed to escape the beast, taking them to safety some of the young shinobi left the battlefield, while following instructions to wait until told otherwise.

Kunai knifes, paper bombs, shuriken, explosives of all kind were thrown at the beast, none of them made even the slightest damage, the overwhelming strength of the beast terrorized the hearts of the shinobi who were fighting him, however they endured because they knew that somehow the beast could be contained, and they would make the ultimate sacrifice in order to protect what was more precious to them, the lives of their loved ones, of their fellow shinobi and of every single person in the village hidden in the leafs.

The battle continued with close to none progress against the monster, the ninja of the leaf were regrouping, focusing on supporting the third Hokage, while they waited for Minato to show up.

Not too far away in the mountain with carved faces stood Minato above the head that represented him as the fourth Hokage of the hidden leaf.

"_as the Hokage, I will protect my village and my family, that is my duty" – Minato thought – " I will not let you do what you want with my Home" _

At that moment the fox turned to look at Minato over the mountain

"so you found me" – said Minato with a serious expression

With a roar the beast prepared to attack opening his mouth and concentrating a great amount of chakra he was prepared to blow up both the mountain and Minato.

"I won't let you" said Minato with a rapid succession of hand signs

The monster quickly launched his attack at Minato, a gigantic purple sphere dashing towards him turning everything it touched to dust

Just before the purple sphere impacted with the mountain, a seal appeared wrapped itself around the sphere sending it far away, seconds later the explosion occurred, it was very powerful Minato thought, even after sending it so far away the shock wave reached the place he was in.

Not having being injured Minato prepared himself for the counter-attack

Suddenly he felt a presence behind him, with urge he turned kunai in hand to stab the masked man, yet he was astounded to see that the kunai went right through him as if it was air, the man then grabbed Minato by his wrist and said "I'm your opponent, don't underestimate me".

Just then the masked man was creating some sort of black hole in his eye, the pressure was incredible, it barely gave Minato a chance to escape in a flash.

"he disappeared, he's very fast" – said the man with the mask – "next time I'll be faster, when we make contact again" and with that he was gone with the same technique as before

"_my attack failed, but he materialized and tried to sucked me in, what the hell is that jutsu?" – Minato was thinking_

Out of nowhere with the same technique as before the masked man appeared before him.

"I won't let you escape" – said the man with the mask

"_he also uses teleportation jutsu" – Minato observed – "so that's how he took Kushina and moved her so fast" – " a shinobi more skillful than the anbu the third assigned, that infiltrated in the village by himself, and that knew the weakness of the sealing jutsu of the nine-tails. He went in and out without difficulty, attacked the village, all of this without being captured, I only know of a single shinobi who can do all of this."_

"are you Uchiha Madara?" – said Minato – "no that's not possible, he is dead"

"I wonder, if that's true"- said Madara

"right now, I don't care who you are, but why are you attacking the leaf ?" – asked Minato

"I could say I did it on a whim, or that I planned it beforehand, or that this is for war, or that this is for peace" – said the man while taking out a chain from his sleeve.

"_in any case he is no ordinary man, he can control the nine-tails and his teleportation jutsu surpasses the second Hokage's and my own, and he is very meticulous: I must seal him immediately or he will be trouble later, if I teleport to the village, he will just follow me and everything will become chaos, if he is in fact Madara, I can't let the contract continue for much longer" – " I will let the third deal with the nine-tails for now, I'll have to take this guy out by myself" _

"now I possess the nine-tails, there is no hope for you" – said Madara

They both charged at incredible speed, Minato with his special kunai was going to thrust it right in Madara's face while the other one with chains wrapped in his wrists ran head first towards Minato.

Minato's kunai passed right through Madara just like before, but this time he was caught with the Madara's chain, with a rapid movement he disappeared before Madara could use his Jutsu In him.

"_no physical attack seems to work against him, however he materializes to attack me, meaning I'll have to attack while he's attacking me, still the risk of getting that attack is too high, my attack must be faster than his in order to succeed, I can do this!"._

_With that Minato launched himself yet again for the masked man, who proclaimed to be Madara._

The clash continued just as before

Minato dashed with incredible speed towards the man sending one of his special kunai at him, just as before it went right through him, Madara was getting too close to comfort with his hand aiming at Minato's shoulder, once he was able to touch him he would be the winner of this death match. Minato was already doomed, or so he thought.

Just before he was able to touch him, the kunai Minato had sent to Madara had ran through him completely, with a sudden movement Minato was grabbing the kunai thrusting a rasengan in his opponent's back 

"_Damn, he teleported to the kunai the threw" – the masked man thought _

"Flying thunder god technique number 2" – Minato said

The masked man collided with the floor creating a crater, and destroying de arena, he however got up fast and took some distance.

"You got me" the man said while panting – "this is what it means inevitable, I shouldn't have let my guard dow-" the man was cut off by Minato who thrust his hand into the man releasing the seal control of the nine-tails – "the seal, that was you r intention from the beginning ?"

"with this the nine-tails is no longer yours" – Minato stated

Right then the monster regained his original eyes

Yet it did not stop him, his rampage continued, with more people dying each time he moved his enormous claw, there were bodies everywhere, and the village was in pieces, and the monster continued the massacre it had started, the ninja were still fighting but to no avail, the monster was invincible or so they thought, still they were weak and there was nothing they could do.

in the other battlefield there was Madara standing face to face against Minato, he had sustained major injuries and had been relieved of his control over the nine-tail demon.

"congratulations, lord Hokage, you managed to hurt me and to take the nine-tails off my control, but it doesn't matter I will have the nine-tails soon, the world will be mine, there are many ways to get it." – finished the masked man while disappearing with his unique jutsu.

"_I can tell by his tone, he's not joking around, that guy Is serious."_

In a different place there were a large amount of shinobi gathered

"you the young ninja of the village will stay here out of harm's way" – said a man with serious expression

"what are you talking about !" – one of the ninja from the group

"this is not a war between villages, it is an internal issue, and as such you have no reason to risk your lives" – replied the man

"we do have to, for our village and our friends!" – said the female shinobi

"calm down" – could be heard from behind her

"you are all shinobi, you are not guaranteed a long life, but I want you to pass down the will of fire to the next generation, to our grandkids, and to your grandkids as well, that's what I want from you, because I believe in you." – said the man. The expressions of everyone changed to one of hope for the future.

The fox was preparing to launch another one of his tailed beast bombs, the third Hokage and a few shinobi remained close by, just then with a rapid set of hand signs appeared Minato with a giant frog that came from the sky, crushing the beast with his fall, however it was struggling to get up and push the frog aside.

"_that man.."- Minato thought – "I'm sorry Kushina"_

"keep him down a little longer" – said Minato

"I'm trying, even for someone like me it's very difficult" – said the chief toad Gamabunta

With that Minato disappeared with the nine-tails leaving a confused third Hokage and Gamabunta behind.

He reappeared with the nine-tails not too far from the village with his wife in one arm and his baby in the other one

"_I have to put a stop to him, but don't have much chakra left" – Minato thought _

"I can still do it Minato" – Kushina said, unleashing several chains that attached themselves to the beast. – " tuhh..tuhh…hah..hah.." – Kushina was coughing

"kushina!" – said Minato

Naruto started crying

"you're awake right, forgive me Naruto" – said Kushina with a forced smile on her face, she was getting closer to exhaustion.

"I will get back the nine-tails with my seal and die with him" – said Kushina while panting – "so restrain him for a little longer" – " that way I'll be able to protect you with the remaining chakra I have left" – "thank you for everything you did for me"

Minato gasped, Naruto started sobbing

"kushina, it is thanks to you that I became fourth Hokage, you made me a the happiest man alive, you made me the father of this baby, and yet…"

"Minato don't look at me like that" – said Kushina with a smile – "I'm so happy you loved me like you did" – with a tear in her eye – "and today we became parents of this little angel, if we were to live in the future I can only imagine us being happy as our baby grows up, living together as a family.." – said kushina with tears rolling down her cheeks

Minato tightened his grip while struggling to keep the tears from flowing.

"I can only regret not being able to see my little baby become a man" – "I really wish I could see him grown up with a cute girlfriend and many friends, the baby I just gave birth to, my Naruto." – said Kushina

"kushina, you don't have to die with the nine-tails" – said Minato – " keep the little chakra you have left, so that you can get to see Naruto when he's older" – "I'm going to seal part of the chakra of the nine- tails within Naruto, and I will seal the rest within me with the reaper death seal"

"But.." – Kushina said but was interrupted by Minato

"And I will seal the nine-tails within Naruto, I know what you want to say, but remember what Jiraiya-sensei said, about the world of shinobi being threatened, and the child of the prophecy, this is the child that will stop that man and that will save the world of the ninja, our little Naruto is the one".- " I don't know why but I'm sure of that "

"But Minato.."

With a fast set of hand signs Minato stood before the beast – "Reaper Death Seal"

"I believe in you, you are my son after all "– said Minato – "I'm going to seal your chakra within Naruto, when the time comes for him to control his power, I want you to be there to help him" – said Minato turning to Kushina

"He's our son, he's our child, I don't want to leave such a burden to him" – said Kushina – "why do you use the Reaper Death Seal, it it's just so I can meet Naruto when he's older, I don't want you to die!, I want you to stay with Naruto, and see him grow up, I want you to take care of him, for the sake of the country, for the sake of the village, why do we have to sacrifice our baby, why are you going to sacrifice him for me?" – She continued

"to forsake one's country is to forsake one's children, I do this because I believe in him, because he is our son, because you are his mother, because I have faith in him, besides even If I were to live there is much only you can teach him as his mother things I couldn't .I'm doing this for him, I will gladly give my life for my son" – said Minato

When he continued with the seal, a phantom-like figure appeared behind him, the god of death, it sent an arm through Minato extending itself to the nine-tails "seal" – Minato yelled

A great amount of chakra was separated from the monster with the specter's arm directed towards Minato where it was sealed for eternity, an eight trigram seal appeared in Minato's stomach completing the first part of the seal, he continued by summing an altar where he put Naruto to perform the jutsu, however kushina started coughing again and Minato got distracted, it was then where the beast seized the opportunity and attacked the newborn Naruto, with a sweep of his claw it would all be over, however his attempt was frustrated by both Kushina and Minato who jumped between the monster and the baby, getting stabbed in the process.

With another movement Minato quickly summoned another toad, to give him the key of the seal and told him to give it to Jiraiya.

And with that the last part of the seal was getting closer

"Kushina, it's almost time, I'm going to start the seal and insert your chakra within Naruto, it's going to be a long time before we see him again". Said Minato

"Naruto...don't be a picky eater, eat your vegetables every day, be sure to get enough sleep, respect your classmates and teachers in the academy, make friends you don't have to make many but a few you can trust, because they will be the ones you can count on for life, give your best at everything and don't get too depressed when something doesn't go your way, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, study hard, and become a great ninja like your dad, from now on things will be tough for you, there is no telling how hard it will be but remember to stay strong. Get a cute girlfriend like your mom, and be sure to treat her well, believe in yourself, make your dreams come true, be all that you want to be, there are many more things I wish I could tell you, I wish I could be with you a little longer, I'm sorry for everything, and remember I love you."- "I'm sorry Minato I took too long"

"don't worry" – "Naruto, I'm really happy I got to be your dad, and I'm really proud of you mi son, I love you" – Minato said with tears in his eyes – "eight trigram seal"

Naruto started crying again, everything was over, this was the birth of Naruto Uzumaki, the beginning of a legend.


End file.
